Blue Frog
by JosieStyle
Summary: Jane was doing a wonderful job investegating a murder, but then something happened. Jane is rushed to the hospital, leaving the team very concerned about his status. Because... there was no cure from getting poisoned from a frog like that. (story set when the old team was still together)
1. Chapter 1

So, Lisbon and Jane walked away from a crime scene in the late afternoon. The killer had been precise not to leave them any trale behind. As in: there were no fingerprints involved. No DNA found on the woman's body. There was also no blood-loss. No visible injuries and no signs of struggle either. No nothing.

This was a weird case that desperately needed Patrick Jane's expertise. So Lisbon let Jane snoop around until her unit was finished so they could all go back to the office together.

She watched with wonder how fast Jane's eyes tracked something odd. He just got to his knees, smelled the hair of the killed widow named: Elenore Dunnovan. Her prone well-dressed body lay flat on her stomach. One hand on her neck, the other neatly held against her side. Her face was frozen in shocked matter. This all just mentioned by Jane.

"Her hair is recently washed with coconut oil, still wet like she just came out of the shower. And yet, her left hand is still kind of dirty. Mud or inky colored stuff is still stuck under her fingernails. A woman this well dressed and rich should always take care of her nails right? Am I right?" Jane gave Lisbon a questionable look. Even though he already knew he made his point. There was a lot more info to get from a crime scene if you looked a little longer, with a little more effort.

"Rigsby?" Jane asked all of the sudden. Rigsby came by with a cellphone in hand for Lisbon and looked down at the former conman.

"Can I borrow your plastic glove for a sec?" Rigsby handed him one in wonderment. And as soon as Jane pulled down the poor woman's collar there was shown a puncture mark, right in the neck.

"Looks like the victim is killed by some kind of a dart."

But the dart was missing.

"So, this is definitely a murder, I tell the Boss, let him know that we need to be very careful with touching the body, she might be poisoned. You did a great job, Jane," Lisbon smiled. Rigsby gave her a phone in hand and mumbled something Jane didn't hear. Or didn't care to hear. He retrieved himself from the body and tried to figure out where the dart should be now. With a curious frown he picked the woman's hand up without touching the skin, by using the glove. Within her hand he found a tiny little needle made of wood. The pointy side had the same inky stuff on it like that what was under Misses Dunnovan's fingernails. He tried to sniff it, but there was no smell.

"Found the dart," he finally said after a while. He carefully handed over to one of the agents with the plastic baggies and got to his feet.

"Job well done, Jane." Lisbon was always so nice when he spoiled her all the details of the murder. That was so amusing to Jane. He grinned and put his hands in his pockets. He also liked the little game they played. Lisbon would be a great mother someday. Babysitting him all day had made her a better person. Or mom. Again, Jane smiled to himself. Feeling all mean and secretly loving it.

Without any word he walked to the open window that showed him the beautifully manicured rose garden. _Of course this was the only place for the killer to make the shot. This wasn't done with a gun. It had to be one of those pipe thingy's from the ehh tribes in the rainforest. Who were they called again? _Jane gave up on the mind struggle as soon as he saw something lying in the bushes. He opened the window further and jumped out to the garden. The direct sunlight was warming him up immediately. It was strange that he felt cold just a minute ago with all the layers of clothing. But that wasn't important. Jane was way too busy now with finding out what he just saw in from the other side of the window. Soon he was knelled on the dirt. With great care he reached at something colorful. But when he touched it briefly, it didn't feel good. First, it looked like some kind of gemstone with a nice blue shiny shade of purple in it. But it wasn't a stone. It felt wet and slimy. And Jane jumped on his feet again, immediately stepping away from the small colorful dead frog.

"Lisbon!" He yelled whipping his hand against his dark blue under jacket. "Found something!" He knew he was screwed when he felt his fingertips burn.

And when Lisbon wasn't coming as fast as he hoped he yelled again. "The frog, Lisbon! I'm poisoned!" His hand felt numb at first. It gave him time to think about this. Then he ran back at the house and stumbled up on a confused Cho and Rigsby. He pushed them out of the way and got right to the fridge. Vastly he took some frozen meat out of it and pushed it to this index finger. That was the only one who felt the wet stuff still burn like fire. His heartrate was speeding. His head started swimming. Voices turned wrong like the seasounds out of an dirty old cd player. _Sea only sounds great when it's real... Why was he saying that to himself? I am mumbling... I am mumbling now. Oh God, I am going to die! Never touching a shiny frog agian... Oh God..._

"Jane! What's going on?" Lisbon asked terrified.

"Frog. Dead Frog. I-In the ehhh G-Garden. He was looking so beautiful. I-I need to do something but I can't think straight. I might die from a heart attack, just like poor Misses Dunnovan."Jane was all but his calm old self now. "I-I don't know what to do." Eyes almost near crying. Lisbon looked at a man who was so scared that he almost couldn't breathe anymore. Jane was sweating and panting and his entire frame was shaking. It was no pretty sight at all. "I am going to die, Lisbon," he repeated again and again. Until his legs gave out. With shock she just looked at it while Cho and Rigsby tried to stop the fall. And ambulance was called already.

…

A lot of things happened after that. Jane didn't track it all. But soon he fell to the ground feeling nothing but pure exhaustion. The arms of Cho and Rigsby were strong but they didn't know what to do with him other than holding him against his own convulsions. Jane couldn't stop it. Nor give a damn about puking and wetting his pants affront of them, anymore. Some words like: 'Seizing', 'Hand' and a lot of 'Oh my God' from his sweet friends caught his ears before he didn't hear of see or feel anything anymore.

He was gone. He was so... ssssoooooo gone. Jane was sure of it.

…

It was the fastest trip to the hospital of all times. Jane was flat-lining three times until the paramedics wheeled him into the ER. Everyone was instructed not to touch him without gloves on because he was now a biohazard. And no matter how they tried to keep Jane from dying, this poison had no antidote.

"Please let Jane life," Lisbon whispered to the sky with her hand on that little cross she carried around her neck.

For a long time they had to wait in the hallway. Behind the doors, were they all stared at for nearly two hours, was Jane; still fighting for his life. The fact that no doctor was coming out of that room meant that Jane was still alive. Unless there was a backdoor somewhere, and Lisbon really didn't wanna go further on that self-note.

…

It took a little longer until a doctor finally gave them some news. But, My God, the man looked puzzled.

"How is he, Doctor?" Rigsby asked anxiously. Apparently not able to read the Doctors look either.

"Patrick Jane is still alive at this point," he announced with great wonderment. He gave them some time to react at this cheerful news and expected some relieve from them but nobody looked any better.

"Is he going to live?" Cho asked.

"Can't say… Listen, people… Why he survived this amount of poison intake is a miracle itself. I don't know how he did it but… he is doing okay for now."

"What do you mean 'for now'?" Grace asked as terrified as everyone at this point. She may not saw Jane collapse in a horrifying way, but when she joined the others and saw Cho uncharacteristic pale she knew it must have been bad.

"Maybe the amount the dead frog had on him wasn't enough to kill him in an instant like it did with the other victim, like you said. I have no other explanation, that to the side; your partner is very lucky." The elder doctor was scratching away on his scalp in wonder.

"So Jane is going to make it?" Grace asked hopefully, totally not expecting this. A tear escaped from the corner of her eye.

"It seems so. Hard to say at this point. But he is holding on his own. The patient won't be conscious for a while, though. We gave him some Tetrodotoxin and Saxitoxin to stop the poison from settling further into the damaged cell aria. Those are strong anesthetics. He will be sleeping softly with no pain or realization of what is going on with him. More we can't do. As you already know, up until this day there is no antidote for that kind of poisoned frogs."

"Can we see him?" Lisbon asked. Forgetting that she could if she showed her badge again.

"Of course. But I have to warn you, it's not pretty. We had to hook him up on some machines to keep the organs working. We are trying our best to filter the blood and kidneys. His heart is weak so we had to put him on a few machines for that too. His right hand is a little swollen and discolored. But we just bandaged that up. Everything else looks fine."

"Thank you, doctor," Lisbon mumbled kindly, eventhough the doctor scared her even more.

Then she walked to the door and opened it with a frog of her own caught in her throat.

Jane...

* * *

A/N: My first Mentalist fanfic. I was always a fan of this show but never dared to write about it. I still think this was a big mistake posting a chapter, uns beataed and all. But, as you might know: I am Dutch and never learned to write English properly. I just learned it from you all ;)

Please let me know what you think about this hurt-comfort fic! I am very curious(X.X)

X

Josie


	2. Chapter 2

…

"Jane… Oh God. Poor Jane." Lisbon stood at the foot of the bed. It was hard to breathe because there was a lot to take in. All the equipment surrounding Jane's bed made a terrifying expression on her. It was like Jane could die any minute now and there was nothing in the world that could stop this from happening.

And the hard truth was… she was right.

And yet, Jane was still breathing. His shaky heartbeat was still there. The bleeping sounds told that to her.

Jane was still alive, holding on to his body. Not wanting to be dead, obviously. This wasn't his time. She would not let him die. She needed him to be alive. Because he was her friend.

A bleeping sound interrupted her thoughts. His heartbeat fluttered again. That's what it did since he was out. Lisbon remembered the doctor mention this. His heart was weak. But they had hooked him up with a machine that could kick in when Jane's heart couldn't handle the routine.

She drew a shaky breath.

If Jane was going to make it they will probably give him a permanent pacemaker or some medicine for that. Worst case scenario, leaving out the 'being dead'-part, they amputate his hand because of the damaged tissue caused by the poison.

God, that would be cruel. Lisbon shook her head as she finally found the nerves to walk at Jane's bedside. Carefully Lisbon took the un bandaged hand between hers.

She immediately startled by the coldness of his skin. Taking a look she also found out that his nails were close to purple from the lack of circulation.

"Oh Jane. You're need an extra blanked. You're stone cold." Stroking his hand she looked around. There was a small closet next to the sink. On the table she saw his clothes neatly folded with the shoes on top of it. "I can put on the socks. Why did they take them off in to the first place, hah? You didn't touch the frog with your toes, right?" She wanted to sound normal. Panic in her voice wouldn't help him.

When she let go of Jane's cold hand it first did not feel right. But she had to let him go sometimes if she wanted to retrieve his dark socks. Suddenly she heard a distinct sound coming from Jane's parted lips. It sounded like a moan, but it sounded so far away.

"Jane?" Lisbon asked, all surprised. Because there was no way Jane could've talked right now. He was heavily sedated. Then Jane made a frown, moaned again but that was all there was until he eased down again. For a moment Lisbon almost thought Jane would get up from the bed with a smile from ear to ear, saying it was all a trick. But it probably was just a reflex, or something.

It took a moment before Lisbon remembered her task to give him his socks back on and when she reached for the blanked someone knocked on the door.

"Yeah," she mumbled. It was Grace.

"Boss, I am so sorry to interrupted but they found some fingerprints back at Dunnovan's house after al. The killer must've opened the back window himself in order to make the shot. The toxic frog has been used at the scene and must've been dropped in the bushes. We need to wait for the results from the lab to know how much poison the victim had in her in order to know how much Jane could have had in one touch. There is a change he would recover if the amounts are lower than 15 %. I thought you wanted to know…" Grace stopped when Lisbon bit her lip in order to hide her feelings.

Then Van Pelt's eyes caught the glimpse of Jane's figure tucked away in a bed surrounded by equipment.

"He looks like he is just sleeping on his couch. Peacefully." It was an attempt to cheer Lisbon up. But the thing was, Grace had a bit of trouble believing this herself. Jane didn't look peaceful at all. He looked pale and shrunken down to a small lifeless figure. Without his suits Jane wasn't their Jane. It was just a man; a poor man fighting for his life.

Lisbon silently got on with her task to put on the socks and Grace automatically stepped in. Each carefully took one cold feet from under the blanket and awkwardly put the socks on together.

"He would laugh at us if he knew what we did for him when he was out." Lisbon smirked at the agent for the first time.

"Better not tell him at all, Van Pelt."

"I won't, Boss." She smirked too.

…

The day was spent in the hospital next to Jane's bed; mostly waiting for the results to come. Lisbon and Van Pelt already agreed to take turns watching over him at night. Because there was no family left for him. He was all alone. They were all he had left.

Jane's condition didn't change much. It was normal he occasionally moaned or flexed some muscles. He was after all in some state of sleep. They had given him another dose of narcotics, just to be sure. After two hours he was put off from the dialysis machine. So there was a bit of improvement. But as the doctor had said: his luck could still be turned if his heart gave out completely. However, Jane's heart showed no signs of flutters in the past sixty minutes so this was great.

Lisbon just sent van Pelt back to the office because there was nothing else for her to do here and Lisbon knew Grace would appreciate some distraction.

A nurse came in just before the evening.

"Hi, still here, I see?" the sweet nurse from earlier smiled at her before she took the clipboard from the foot of the bed. "Just checking up on things before I leave. Did Doctor Woodland spoke to you about tonight's treatment?" Lisbon looked up concerned.

"No he didn't."

"Well. It has been hours since poor Mister Jane ingest something, so I need to give him a banana bag and refresh the catheter. You might want to wait in the hallway. I promise it won't be long," the nurse promised apologetically.

"Oh, it's no problem, nurse. I needed a coffee break after all." Lisbon smiled as she left the room. At the same time her phone started ringing. "Oh, excuse me," Lisbon said and closed the door behind her as she took the call.

"_Hi, Boss, how is Jane?" _

It was Cho.

"Still the same. They took him from some machines earlier so that's an improvement. Do you have some news?" Teresa was anxious to hear about the amount of toxins the blue frog still got in him after the killer used it to kill the first victim.

_"Yeah we have some good news about the killer first. The fingerprints belongs to Dunnovan's ex-boyfriend named Lars Goosens. Some Dutch merchant in exotic plants. He has his own company a few blocks from the victim's house. I wouldn't be too hard to imagine Goosens purchased some exotic amphibians for hobby. He has quite a collection at home. Me and Rigsby already arrested him."_

"Good, Cho. I knew I did a great thing leaving you in charges of this investigation. Any other news on the lab results yet?" That was where Lisbon was waiting for.

"_The dead frog was almost squeezed out of his toxins before Jane had found him. The victim had a great amount of it in her system. If the poison could kill Jane he would've been already dead. So… No worries… Looks like Jane is going to be okay, Boss."_

Cho sounded almost warm and sweet. It wasn't like him.

"Oh Thank God. Thanks, Cho I'll make sure Jane's Doctor hears this too." Lisbon ended the call feeling relieved and happy. The nurse came out of the room with a black plastic garbage bag.

"I am all done. You ca sit with him if you want. I will come back with an extra blanket for the patient. The poor man is feeling like a popsicle."

"Yeah, I noticed. Thanks. And uh… where can I find Doctor Woodland? I have some information about Jane." Lisbon almost smiled while asking.

…

During the night Lisbon fell asleep with her head pressed forward on the matrass. Jane's heart rhythm had been stable and that was a good sign.

And it gets better. The moment Lisbon was sound asleep one was about to awake.

* * *

**AN: There. Chapter 2. What a struggle. But it was kind of fun. The next chapter would be the last. And it will be all about Jane getting better and Lisbon nursing him and mocking him back to his old self again. ;)**

**See ya!**

**Oh and keep reviewing please! I love your reactions.**

**X**

**Josie**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: For starters, I didn't amputate Jane's hand in this story. I merely just mentioned that it could probably a possibility. But that would be too cruel right? Lisbon thought about it like the worst case scenario. Jane has no pacemaker either. He just stabilized on his own somehow. Let's get on with the chapter now, shall we?**

….

Imagine this. The weirdest realization that you're about to wake up from a terrible nightmare. You are confused and still not sure that everything is as it used to be. Up turns down and down turns up. Vision still not clear and rippled like the seawater hitting on the rocks near the coast. Jane slowly awoke like that, eyes blinking most of the ripples away. Nearly drowns in the world of sleep again, when he let his eyelids fall close too long. Something wasn't right. He had no memory of how he had gotten here. Sure this wasn't his bed. Something didn't fit in the last memory he had. It took him a long time to pick a few pieces up to put it together. There was nothing within his mind that could help him further then a flash of nice roses and other flowers outside somebody's house. The ah… crime scene, presumably. Other than that, nothing…. Just a faint realization that something has happened to him. And it had to be very bad.

He was in a bed, _so that's was wrong, for starters._

Jane grunted in response to his own headache; veins where hammering against his scalp like something wanted to go out badly. _That wasn't good either._

So he was hurt. Maybe hurt his head, that would explain the gap in his memory, and of course the hammering sensation. He tried to move a bit, because he felt uneasy, like something was pressing down on his torso. His chest was hurting, maybe even more than the brain. _Well… that was not a good sign. _

"Oh my gosh, Jane? You're back?" an angelic and yet familiar voice stopped his growing inner panic. A hand fell on his aching chest.

"Lisbon…?" he whispered with an odd struggle. _His tongue felt numb too? This was getting better and better…..not!_

"Jane… it's alright. Take a deep breath. You're okay." _That was the dumbest thing she said this day._

"No, I am not okay. Where are my feet? I _can't_ feel my feet, Lisbon." He frowned, and even that made his head feeling worse. He was going to touch his scalp but Lisbon's smile faded suddenly.

"No, Jane. Lay still." Jane confusingly blinked at his heavy and bandaged hand. Then his eyes went up to her. There was so much information held in just one glimpse in her eyes. It nearly shocked him. Despite her soft voice, she looked as frightened as he must have looked.

"Lisbon…" it was all he could say. He felt his heart flutter from all the feels it made him wanna curl up and whimper but he can't. He could not. So instead he looked at Lisbon, nearly pleading for an explanation. But instead, she kept him out of the loop by trying to keep him down.

"Jane, before I am going to call for a nurse I want you to never move the hand, alright? He has to stay downwards." Lisbon propped the pillow back under his elbow. Again, Jane blinked at her.

"I-I promise… but…" he needed to know. "How did I end up here, in the hospital? What the hell happened?" His voice was getting higher because of the inner fear.

Behind him a machine was bleeping faster, so that must be measuring his heart.

"Calm down," Lisbon ordered. Her hand was going to stop him from getting of his pillow but instead she pushed a button first.

"I will… as soon as you tell me something. Please."

"Something wrong, agent Lisbon? Oh!" Even the nurse looked surprised to see Jane awake. "Mister Jane, glad to see you're feeling better. Please relax so I can look at your vitals. Agent Lisbon, do you mind to stay outside for a minute?" Lisbon nodded and started to retrieve from the bed. But Jane wasn't too happy about that.

"Oh, she can stay, nurse, please," Jane nearly pleaded; causing some changes on the heart monitor.

"Mister Jane, can you calm down? There is no need for you to get restless." Lisbon stood at the door and caught the glimpse of poor Jane's blue eyes. She could not leave him like this.

"All right. I'll stay. I am sorry nurse but I think I have to." And there was no comment about that.

Jane immediately relaxed a bit while the nurse checked his vitals over. A long as the poor man could see Lisbon it was all okay. When the nurse finally left with the news 'Jane was doing fine. But is heart was still weak-might need a pacemaker after all' Lisbon got back to her usual seat.

Jane was notably pooped after this and did his best not to give in to the luring sleep. He blinked at her and somehow managed to give her a smile.

"What?" she asked curiously.

Jane shrugged.

"Why did you act all weird against the nurse? You really didn't want me to leave?"

Again, Jane shrugged sheepishly. The heart machine bleeped a normal pattern, Lisbon learned by now that this pattern was good. It meant that he was relaxed and calm. Before she knew it, her hand fell on his arm. Jane seemed to love it, it made him even more relaxed.

"Listen. I have to call some people, telling them about your miraculous recover. I am pretty sure they would want to know. Especially Van Pelt. She was very upset."

Jane's eyelids fluttered at that.

"Sorry… for the... trouble… Lisbon…" he slurred half asleep now. He was so fragile. It made her feel even worse for him.

"Oh please, stop that. Like you could do anything about it. It was an accident. Use gloves next time when you're wander off the crime scene from now on, all right?" She acted all tough, but Jane seemed to read right through it, even when he was weak like this.

"Lisbon… thank you… for being here… I-it means a lot." His voice crackled. Soon his eyelids fell close and he was asleep. Lisbon could only sit there. Feeling amazed and mad and stunned, all at the same time. The calls she made in the hallway, later on. But leaving him was not an option now, so arranged that with Van Pelt too. It was what she wanted to do.

The night was slow. Jane slept through it like a baby. She also managed to get some shut eye too.

In the morning she finds herself waking up to Jane's clear blue eyes.

"Good morning sunshine," the pale man whispered softly with the sweetest smile he could pull in the state he was in.

"Hey you. Wow. Look at yah. You're smiling and everything. How do you feel?" Lisbon got up straighter to look at the man in the bed. He looked more rested and some of the paleness had left his face overnight.

"They came in… told me I was looking better. I asked them-," Jane had to take a deep breath before going further, eyes fluttered weakly, "…to not disturb you. You looked so peaceful." Lisbon could not believe that she had not woken up to that. She must have been pretty exhausted.

"But they wanted to give me a sponge bath in a while. How beautiful does that sound, right? Getting washed in your bed by grumpy nurses," Jane joked. He was definitely feeling better.

Lisbon figured it would be for the best to go home real quick and take a shower, freshening up a bit, grab a bite and go back to the hospital before midday.

While on her way back to the hospital she got a few more calls from the office; everyone wanted an update on Jane. And although she hadn't talked to the doctor yet, she told her team about Jane was smiling again. That was enough, apparently.

…

After some time Doctor Woodland came in to check up on Jane. Two nurses stood by to assist. Jane seemed stable. Vitals were starting to get normal. But his heartrate was still irregularly at times so he has to stay over for monitoring. The hand was still swollen and they had to drain it to release some of the pressure.

In the evening Lisbon brought his some soup and they ate together. Jane was barely eating but at least he was up and smiling the whole time.

"Doc said I could keep the hand," he finally whispered. Fighting the urge to wiggle the bandaged fingers. Not that he could move them. Lisbon snorted.

"That's too bad. I would love to see you play those stupid card tricks with a robotic hand." Jane knew it was just a decoy to look more calm. It has been scary for the both of them.

"Poison wasn't strong enough to keep me from doing what I love, hun. Just saying…"

"Hun?" Lisbon gave him a look. But he did not catch it in time. His eyes were starting to close again.

"Happy to be here with you. With or without my hand… I already feel better. My heart has been broken before. It left scars that will never go away…. But with you….. I feel always….. better… oh…" Jane startled awake again. "I just fell asleep?" Moved by the soft spoken words Theresa took his good hand.

"Almost, Jane. You were rambling. But it's okay. Rest up. You are doing great. And it all will be fine."

Lisbon caressed her thumb over Jane's smooth but pale skin as she hears the man's breathing pattern even out.

"You will be fine, Jane."

…

End!


End file.
